May 07, 2008

Susan Combs, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts released a new report on energy. The report looks at the various forms of energy and the part that I found most interesting, it also estimated the amounts of federal and Texas state and local subsidies for the different forms of energy.

The number one energy industry receiving subsidies at the Texas state level was the oil and gas industry. In 2006, the oil and gas industry collected $1.4 billion in state and local subsidies. The state paid out just $6.2 million for all forms of renewable energy with none going to ethanol.

At the federal level, ethanol subsidies totaled $4.7 billion in 2006. This number includes the blenders credit, corn subsidies, and all the money that went to ethanol research that year.

Subsidies at the federal level for the oil and gas industry totaled $3.5 billion.

The thing that I find interesting about this report is the fact that people say that the ethanol industry is mature and should be able to stand on it's own without subsidies, but the oil and gas industry is over 100 years old and is still getting substantial subsidies at the federal level and at the Texas state level.